Norwich vs Middlesbrough prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-10-23 18:45.
It has now been three games without a win for Norwich City (D1, L2), who most recently lost to former boss Daniel Farke and Leeds United. That result in particular must have hurt after the Canaries raced to a 2-0 lead before losing 3-2, with boss David Wagner solemnly stating that the manner of defeat “is anything but good or nice to take”. It was also a rare occurrence as they had not lost a Championship home game after being two goals up since 2018.
A visit from Middlesbrough will hardly soothe Norwich, nor quell the nerves of their boss, for the German coach has lost each of his three prior personal meetings with the Teessiders by a combined 10-1 scoreline. Norwich fans may also remember the team converting a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 loss in this corresponding fixture last term, although their last eight home league defeats prior to the 3-2 loss to Leeds saw them fail to score.
Things are looking up for Michael Carrick’s Boro, who returned after the international break with a sixth consecutive competitive victory over Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham City. That run has seen Middlesbrough move within touching distance of the top six and into the last 16 of the EFL Cup, so the mood has certainly lifted around Teesside after their well documented historically poor start to the season.
The three away wins during Boro’s hot streak represents their joint-longest run of road victories since a four-game run ending in January 2016, which coincidentally was the last season Middlesbrough were promoted to the Premier League! In terms of just the Championship, Boro have now won back-to-back road games whilst scoring at least three goals in each, although they’ve not registered three such victories since 1993.
Players to watch: Norwich starlet Jonathan Rowe has scored in three of his last six appearances for club and country, including in England U21s record-equalling 9-1 win over Serbia during the break. Boro’s Morgan Rogers could be knocking on the door for a start after making three goal contributions in his last four appearances (G2, A1), despite coming off the bench in three of those games.
Hot stat: All but three of Middlesbrough’s 11 away league goals scored came beyond half-time.